


Modern Perk

by TheMagicArts



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Boys Kissing, M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25917742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMagicArts/pseuds/TheMagicArts
Summary: Arthur returns and discovers a perk of the 21st century: bisexuality.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 132





	Modern Perk

Arthur sucked in a great lungful of air when he finally got his head out of the water. It must have only been a few minutes that he’d been struggling to reach the surface, but it had felt like ages. His throat and lungs burned. 

Long weeds trailed behind him, looking like a green cape as he made his way to shore. No one was around as far as he could tell. 

“Where is Merlin?” he wondered. Surely he hadn’t been underwater for long. His loyal manservant was never far away.

Feeling rather put out, he angrily yanked at the weeds stuck to his pristine chainmail. He groaned. Arthur was going to have to endure Merlin whinging on about cleaning that armor even though it was his job. 

He reached the road and frowned. It was made up of tiny black rocks and was as smooth as milk unlike the road that had been there previously which had been full of all sorts of rocks of varying sizes. He heard an odd sound and turned towards it. It sounded a bit like a goose honking. It was coming from a strange contraption that gleamed in the sun and was hurtling towards him at an alarming rate. Fear clutched his heart. He unsheathed his sword and took a stance. But the strange beast went past him, a strong wind blowing in its wake and stirring his hair. 

Another one of the strange beasts came towards him, slower than the first. Arthur could see people inside so he concluded that it was some sort of horseless carriage. One of the people shouted, “Nice costume, you wanker!” Then the wind stirred up by the strange beasts hit Arthur again. 

He walked in the direction the strange metal beasts had taken. He could see a building on a hill up ahead and he made for that. Thirty minutes later, he found himself in a quiet village with window baskets bursting with flowers. There were also more of the strange beasts from the road, but they were silent and unmoving. He cautiously moved around the beasts so as not to awaken them. He saw a wooden sign with a rising sun coming out of a pint of ale. Merlin had his money purse. But surely someone would buy their king a pint. 

Silence filled the pub as he entered. It wasn’t everyday that a man wearing full chainmail and carrying a legendary sword visited the village pub. 

The silence was broken by someone knocking over their pint of ale. Arthur turned towards the sound. 

“There you are, Merlin. Knew I’d find you in the tavern.”

***

After getting Arthur sorted into some clothes provided by the kind tavern keeper, Merlin tried in his best bumbling manner to explain everything Arthur had missed. Arthur didn’t fully pay attention. He was too busy being fascinated by the soft shirt he was wearing. He had been reliably informed that it was called a jumper. The fabric was so soft that he had been standing by the window, mostly not listening to Merlin for the past several minutes, and rubbing his hands along his arms. He wondered what the fabric was made from. This was the softest thing he had ever felt. Merlin was talking about something called the Norman Conquest, but Arthur barely heard a word. He continued to stare out the window at the main road in the village.

“Arthur, are you even listening?” Merlin asked, a note of exasperation in his voice. “Where did I lose you?”

“Hmm?” Arthur asked, still not really listening. 

“I’m talking about the battle of Hastings now. Where did I lose you?”

“Um.” Arthur finally turned towards his manservant. Merlin’s hair was a little different, but the large ears were still the same. (Once Arthur got introduced to Disney movies, he decided to call Merlin Dumbo. It annoyed Merlin to no end, but Arthur thought it was justice for all the times Merlin had called him a clotpole). Arthur could hardly believe what Merlin was saying: 1500 years had passed. He’d been in the lake for centuries. If not for all the weird things he was seeing (the telly, Merlin’s mobile, the cars) he would not have believed it. 

The sight of two blokes walking down the village road hand in hand caught Arthur’s attention. Then the taller one leaned down and kissed the other one and Arthur gasped. “Merlin, they’re kissing! Two men are kissing!” Arthur practically shouted.

“Shhh! Keep your voice down!” Merlin said. They were alone in one of the rooms above the bustling tavern. He wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to hear or not and he didn’t want to find out. “It’s rude to stare.”

Arthur continued to gape at the passionate embrace. He turned back towards Merlin, an indecipherable expression on his face.

“There’s all types now. People can kiss whoever they want as long as there’s consent. There’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transgender. We didn’t have those sorts of names… people didn’t realize things about themselves in our time because there was no word for it…” he trailed off, unsure if Arthur was even listening anymore. “It’s all ok. People can be themselves now,” he added.

Arthur was staring at him and Merlin felt his face flush.

“So… I can kiss you?” Arthur asked, face unreadable.

Merlin turned even redder. “Erm, yes, if you want to...and, and if I want you to.”

It had never occurred to Arthur that Merlin was someone he could kiss. He approached Merlin who was sitting on the bed and leaned over him. “Can I kiss you?”

Merlin squeaked out a yes and Arthur gently pressed his lips to the other man’s. He deepened the kiss, Merlin reaching up to pull Arthur closer to him. 

Too soon, Arthur pulled away. “Oh,” was all he said, expression unreadable. 

Merlin wondered if he’d done something wrong. For years, he had imagined what it would have been like to have been in Gwen’s shoes and in Arthur’s bed. He’d even been angry at himself, at Arthur, at Gwen during those 1500 years of waiting for Arthur. It hadn’t been fair. But never in those 1500 years had Merlin dared to imagine that Arthur would reciprocate his feelings. He couldn’t bring himself to because he would have just fallen apart at what he had lost. Merlin sniffed, trying not to cry. Traitorous hot tears stung his eyes. Arthur’s blank stare said he didn’t share those feelings. Why was Merlin so surprised? 

Arthur laughed. “That was quite good.” He liked kissing Merlin quite a lot. A pity that he had wasted so many years as king kissing the wrong person. He realized now the way he felt about Merlin’s soft touches when he undressed him, the way he felt when he saw Merlin smile, the fear he felt when Merlin was in danger… that it had a name. 

He leant over Merlin again, crashing their mouths together. He didn’t pull away until they were both breathless. 

“So about the Norman Conquest…” Merlin started again.

“Merlin.”

“Erm, shut up?”

“Exactly.” Arthur attacked his mouth again and didn’t have to hear a spoken word for quite some time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first fic posted to AO3. I normally use Fanfiction.net, but I discovered AO3 during quarantine and absolutely fell in love with this site. The format is less constricting than on FF.net (comments instead of more formal reviews and more author interaction with readers and A03 doesn't mind a bit of sexytimes). There are about 18,000 more works about Merthur on AO3 than on FF.net (at least when I use the filter). I really love the community on AO3. Everyone seems so nice. I feel very nervous about posting this fic for some reason. Hope you liked it.


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